For Student information and use only

BEFORE COMPLETING THIS DOCUMENT, PLEASE REFER PREVIOUS PROJECT(S) LESSONS LEARNED

Project Mandate
[insert project name]
Project Size: [insert project size (refer to sizing guide in appendix)]
Author(s):
Date:
Version: []

Delete the below and [....] text after completion…

This document is to be completed by the Business Owner during the ‘Concept’ Phase of the project lifecycle.
The main purpose of the project mandate is to identify, validate and communicate a business idea in response
to a specific business challenge or opportunity. It should capture the objectives and desired outcomes of the
project, with an initial high level view of the associated costs, benefits, risks and the strategic relevance. The
information provided in this document will ensure a consistent and common understanding of the scope and
approach of the project.
In some cases, projects may require pre-work before completing a detailed Business Case and therefore the
Mandate may not have detailed costs or benefits for agreement, but may request funding approval for the
allocation of initial resources to complete work up to a particular phase e.g. end of Initiate & Plan.
Complete this template for:
 all projects based on the complexity, business impact and full-life cost to complete the
project (refer to ‘Table 1’ in appendix)

Group IT must be consulted for provision of ALL IT solutions ahead of the mandate being signed off.
Business teams should not engage with technology vendors without engaging IT in the first instance.
Any overhead resource assumptions included in your forecast MUST be validated by resource
owner
After approval of the Project Mandate by relevant parties, the approved copy is to be submitted to Group PMO
(GroupPMO@bsigroup.com) who will add it to the project register. The original mandate should be retained by
the business owner or assigned project manager.

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Contents
1 Project Information...........................................................................................................3
2 Objectives, Strategic Alignment, Cost and Benefits..........................................................3
3 Change Impact & Impacted Business Areas......................................................................4
3.1 Impacted Business Areas...................................................................................................5
4 Data Privacy Impact..........................................................................................................5
5 Data Impact.......................................................................................................................6
6 Expected Timelines............................................................................................................6
7 Stakeholder Engagement.................................................................................................. 6
8 Approvals...........................................................................................................................7
9 Revision History.................................................................................................................7
10 Appendix.........................................................................................................................8
10.1 Sizing a Project.................................................................................................................8

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1 Project Information
Project ID: [To be allocated by Group PMO Group Exec Name of the Group Exec Sponsor who is
once project is registered] Sponsor accountable for this project]
Business Area [Portfolio / Functional Area] Business [Name of the appointed Business Lead for
Lead this project]
Associated [State whether the project will be a stand-alone activity to fulfil a particular business
Programme or requirement or whether it is part of a bigger programme. Provide a brief description of what
other Projects they are and how they are associated]

2 Objectives, Strategic Alignment, Cost and Benefits

Brief [Why does BSI need to do the project and why now? Is there clear evidence of need for this
description of project? What is the background behind this initiative? How does it align with BSI Group
background Strategic Plan and Master Plan e.g. does it deliver initiatives included in the Master Plan or
and purpose meet our strategic objectives? Provide a concise description of what the project is expected to
deliver; what problems and needs will be addressed once it has been implemented
successfully. Provide as much information as possible. Information may be limited at this
stage however, you will be able to to define and change your thinking as you develop the
business case.]

Scope [Identify specific business areas that will be supported, functionality to be included, and/or
impacted sytems to be addressed during the project. If there is a need for the project to be
accomplished in phases, the specific boundaries for each phase should be stated.
List specific deliverables that are not defined as part of the project scope; this could include
things to be carried out by another project]
Project scope includes:
1.
2.
3.

Project scope does not include:

1.
2.
3.

Key [What “Outputs” will be created as a result of the project. These “Outputs” will enable the
Deliverables objectives and benefits to be achieved. Benefits can be financial (e.g. cost saving,
and Benefits decommissioning assets) or non-financial (e.g. business reputation, performance
improvements, organisational value add). Financial benefits will need to be agreed/validated
with finance during the ‘Initiation’ phase of the project lifecycle]

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Funding Total Budget for: [Initiate & Plan/Design/Execute/Close] Phase [delete as

appropriate]
[This should be an informed “rough order of magnitude” full-life cost. If sufficient deatil
exists, an indication of Capex and Revex split to be provided if available (NB: overhead
resource assumptions included in your forecast MUST be validated by resource owner – insert
a screenshot of the ShortForm Financial Appraisal. If you are requesting funding in order to
take you upto a particular phase i.e. to support development of a business case, please
indicate that the requested funding will take you to the end of Initiate & Plan]

Assumptions [Describe any circumstances or events that are expected to occur for the project to be
successful - list all major assumptions]

Dependencies [Describe any other projects, initiatives or other business changes that are reliant on this
& Constraints project in order for them to be successfully delivered or vice versa. Identity any restrictions
known at this stage for example, there may be restrictions around when particular items of
work can be done or need to be completed by i.e. any events or circumstances that may
restrict, limit, or regulatory / legislative]

Risks [Provide a list of uncertain events or conditions that could occur resulting in a negative impact
on the project. Identify what you consider to be the top three risks at this stage]
1.
2.
3.

Customer / [Who is the ‘ultimate customer’ or user community that this will support/ is being delivered to
End Users (provide numbers if available). This can also be used to provide an indication of scale of user
base]

Project [Outline any initial ideas for how the project might be delivered including external delivery,
Approach consultants, governance arrangements etc. If applicable, have 3rd party arrangements
been discussed (MSA/SoW)? Is it clear how they will support the project? You will
need to factor in the time it takes to get a MSA/SoW in place via Procurement and
Legal and therefore plan for early engagement (could take 2-3 months+)]

3 Change Impact & Impacted Business Areas

[Outline description of the change impact including type of change (organisation structure,
locations, process, technology), which functions are impacted, approximate size and timing.
Identify any other changes that are happening across the organisation that may impact the
proposed project]
Change
Impact

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3.1 Impacted Business Areas

[Determine the potential Business area where their critical operations, functions and processes could be affected
(negatively or positively) by the proposed project going live and the nature of the impact]
Business Area Nature of Impact Contact Name Engaged (Y/N)
(specific business segment (As a result of the project, what will this Business (Person responsible (has the project idea and
or area of responsibility) Area be doing in a different way?) for this area) potential impact to the business
area been communicated)

Example: HR Processes for recruitment, absence Jo Brown Yes

management etc will change therefore
Training will be required for the HR
community on the new system

4 Data Privacy Impact

[Confirm if the project could potentially result in changes to the collection of information and
data, and if this information will need to be disclosed to 3rd parties. If so, what security
Potential Data assurances will need to be agreed prior to the transfer of information and data. If this section
Privacy is relevant to the project, there will be a requirement to complete a Data privacy impact
Impact assessment form during the ‘Initiation phase’ of the project lifecycle.]

5 Data Impact
[Confirm if the project could potentially result in changes to the collection, structure, quality and format of data
held within our systems.
If this section is relevant to the project, there will be a requirement to complete a Data Impact Assessment during
the initiate & design phase of the project]
Central Data Stewards

 Kasia Kwak - Commercial, Marketing, Legal  Sei-Ting Leung - Regulatory Services, Knowledge Solutions

 David Killick - Assurance Services, Consulting Services  Mark Slaughter – Finance, HR

Systems Impacted Data Impacted Engaged (Y/N)

(Please list which systems could be impacted (Please list the types of data which could be impacted by this (Has the Central Data
by this project) e.g. Salesforce, SAP, Workday project) e.g. Employee data, Customer data, Financial data Steward been engaged)

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6 Expected Timelines
[Using the template attached below, provide an outline of the project plan by giving major milestones (an
important achievement in a project) and their target dates. This plan may focus on the early stage of the
programme if there is a milestone to complete a Full Business Case, which will enable a detailed delivery plan.
Copy of template summary to be pasted into this document]
The project activities are summarised in the plan below:
Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6 Month 7 Month 8 Month 9 Month 10 Month 11 Month 12
Project

Activity 1 Narrative

Activity 2 Narrative

Activity 3 Narrative

Activity 4
Narrative

Activity 5 Narrative

7 Stakeholder Engagement
[Please complete the table below to include the stakeholders who need to be consulted at the outset of the project
(mandatory stakeholders have been highlighted in red, as you will need to factor in their interest and effort
required within the project)]
Role Stakeholder Name Engaged
(Y/N)
[Group IT Representative]
[Group Risk & InfoSec Representative]
[Legal Representative]
[Finance Representative]
[Change Management Representative]
[Solution Architect]
[Domain Data Governance Working Group]
[HR Representative]
[Procurement Representative]
[…]

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8 Approvals
[It is mandatory to complete this section with names of the individuals that are approving the commencement of
this project. Must include information of the project sponsor in order to register and proceed with the project.
Please refer to the BSI delegated authority policy to confirm additional required approval level.]
Approver Name Title Date
[Project Sponsor]
[Business Lead]
[Group IT Representative
e.g Solution Architecture., Service Management]

[Group Risk & InfoSec Representative]

[Legal Representative]
[Finance Representative]
[Solution Architect]

9 Revision History
Revision Date Author Changes history Purpose Approved By
No.

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10 Appendix

10.1 Sizing a Project

Use the guidance below to initially size your project (Table 1) and the level of governance to be applied
via the Project Management Framework (Table 2):
Table 1

1 2 3 4 5
Business Impact Divisions Full-Life
Size Characteristics Type of Change Examples
H/M/L Impacted Cost

• Introducing a new product/service or designing a new

HIGH
operating model
Significant change to
• Change being pursued is a radical departure from how we work
ways of thinking, Innovative or • Tiered Model
today (fundamentally requiring different ways of thinking and
LARGE working)
behaving and Transformational • Workday
3+
(Strategic working across a Business Solutions ~£1.0m+ • Finance
Projects) • People need completely new knowledge and skill, which
large population of including Transformation
they may not be willing or able to acquire
clients and/or Technology • Sure II
• Complex change managed across functions/streams (people,
colleagues e.g. ALL
process, data, systems, governance etc.)
BSI
• Full governance and oversight

• Change to existing product/service, business process or

MEDIUM
ways of working
Widespread impact
• Step change from how we work today in a core area or areas • Mark of Trust
to large population
of the business (significant changes to ways of thinking and • PCI - DSS
across BSI OR New Business
MEDIUM working) 2 ~£0.1m - Compliance
significant change Solutions including
• People need some new knowledge and skills, which require £0.99m • Client Training
required to existing Technology
time and investment to acquire Portal
ways of thinking,
• Managed within stream/function • Group Website
behaving and
• Some cross-company dependencies (IT, data and business
working
processes)

• Evolves existing business; the change is an evolutionary

LOW
improvement from how we work today (incrementation change) Incremental
Small population
• People have or can easily acquire all the knowledge and changes to
SMALL impacted by change • IT upgrades /
skills they need 1 existing solutions ~£0.1m
and minimal change releases
• Managed by existing BAU resources including
to ways of thinking
• Limited cross-company impact Technology
and working
• May include significant one-off activities e.g. events

Table 2

¹ Decision of control and governance to be agreed at appropriate Governance forum (Group PMO can advise if needed)
² If the project is <£300k, the Project Mandate can be used as approval for the project to proceed
³ Group IT may want to manage this as a project or work request within their area (as appropriate)

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